ARNCLIFFE souls are not normally known for their lawlessness - but finally they have obeyed a law brought in more than 500 years ago.

A new set of village stocks was opened and parish meeting chairman Sheila Foster had the dubious honour of being pelted with a few ripe tomatoes to mark the occasion.

Mrs Foster told the gathering that in 1490 a law had been passed requiring every village to have a set of stocks in which those who missed church would be placed to reflect on the error of their ways. The law has never been repealed.

"We thought it about time we made ourselves lawful," she said.

She then volunteered to take her place in the seat with Derek Bowen, who had manufactured the stocks, although, mysteriously, the key had disappeared meaning their incarceration was brief.

The wood, stones and locks were all recycled from the village itself and the stocks placed on common land directly fronting the church gate.

The opening was the conclusion of the village's communal celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation.

After a Jacob's Join meal the National Anthem was played and the villagers made their way down from the village green for the brief opening ceremony.

It is the fourth year in a row that Arncliffe has held a communal party on the green - the coronation festivities following the Millennium, the 100th birthday of the Queen Mother and the Queen's Golden Jubilee last year. Now they are desperately seeking an excuse to keep the run going in 2004.